Bonded With Fire
by Stormjade
Summary: Yong Soo's twin is mentally disabled. Crimes are committed, legal matters are discussed, and after all that, Yong Soo must rebuild. A certain Taiwanese girl helps.
1. Our Beginnings

**Hello, people who read what I write. It's been some time.**

**This is a human AU, in which Wang Yao(China) is a widower with two kids, Wang Jia Long(Hong Kong) and Wang Mei(Taiwan). He lives next door to a childhood friend of his, Im Ga Yun(Unified Korea, or Joseon, an OC of mine), who is a widow and has twin boys, Im Yong Sook(North Korea, another OC of mine but heavily based off of Himaruya's potential design) and Im Yong Soo(South Korea).**

**I deleted my last KorTai story because the plot was quite cliche and I didn't like it anymore. I honestly don't know where that was going. I have a new one though, one in which I know how it's going to all lay out, so, enjoy!**

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Ga Yun and I weren't always such good friends as we are now. When we were younger, I always tried to dominate her in everything, even though she was quite shy and just wanted to be left alone. I influenced her a lot, since I was a bit older than her. But, she grew up into a fine girl and we became close. I laugh when I think of those days. How carefree we were.

We grew up and got married to people of our own nationality. Our marriages weren't anything extraordinary, but we were content, elated even. We were in love with our spouses. We were also ecstatic to find that we were moving to the same neighborhood, to neighboring houses. Our spouses were friends with each other, too.

I had kids first. Just like the old days. I always was first. My beautiful wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy, my Jia Long. A couple years later we had our second child, Mei, who's prettier than any plum blossom. Two months later, Ga Yun had twins, Yong Sook and Yong Soo. They were mirror images of each other. We all joked that the twins would someday have to battle for my Mei's hand in marriage.

It was only a few days after the twins's birth that it happened. Ga Yun's husband was driving my wife and I back home from visiting Ga Yun when there was a drunk driver who swerved into the left side of the car. Ga Yun's husband and my wife were hit full on and died instantly. I was lucky. I escaped with only a couple bruises.

Ga Yun and I had played together, fought together, stood together, lived in the same neighborhood together, and lived our lives together. At that time, we mourned together. We all stayed in my home and we pulled our children close and cried and mourned and poured our sadness into the same puddle.

After that we straightened up together and helped each other up out of our self-pity party. We both had kids to feed and clothe and care for. We brushed our long hair and got on with our lives, incomplete but leaning on each other's shoulders.

No, I am not, never was, and never will be in love with Ga Yun.

She is the closest friend I could ever imagine having and I love her, but I don't love her.

That love is saved for when I see my wife again.

Nevertheless, time carried on. I aged, she aged, while our children grew. They played together, and in their games I saw what we had done in our time. It made me laugh, the resemblances.

The four kids developed distinct personalities and quirks. It's quite interesting, how they grew from the same ground, yet yielded such diverse flowers.

Jia Long is always quiet, always stoic, always calm. He's a great big brother to Mei. He is surprisingly feminine. He likes fashion and speaks in an accent characteristic of the young generation. He worries me a bit. He's always rebellious, and seems to be going through his "teenager" phase. It worries me quite a lot.

Mei is cheerful and beautiful. She's always got boys on her tail, but shakes them off all the time. She takes after her big brother and is fashionable and has a strong will. I sometimes hear them talking about clothes when they're together. Both of them seem quite passionate about them. She takes after her brother in more ways than that, though. Lately, _she's _been hating me as well! It hurts to have one's children detest you.

Yong Soo is energetic and always has a smile plastered on his face. He's passionate and free-spirited and always has strong opinions. He either loves something or hates it. There's no in-betweens for him. He loves his family, especially his older twin, with a burning fire and is very loyal. He does get quite annoying, though. I'm not sure how Ga Yun puts up with it 24/7.

Yong Sook is quite like Jia Long. They're both quiet and reserved and smart. While Jia Long loves fashion, Yong Sook loves music. He's an amazing musician. They both are rebellious. What sets their attitudes apart is that Yong Sook is mentally ill.

He was diagnosed with major depressive disorder when he was ten. He had always shown symptoms but we never confronted them. We barely knew about these mental disorders. It was only when Yong Sook started to become more violent that we sought professional help.

He would lash out at Ga Yun and Yong Soo. He would lock himself in his room and scream in the middle of the night. He'd destroyed all the furniture in his room and when he actually slept he slept in a heap of broken wood. He wouldn't let anyone go clean his room. Other times, he'd just lie down and cry quietly and not eat. It kept getting worse and worse. Ga Yun would sometimes collapse into tears in our living room with Yong Soo because Yong Sook was currently screaming in the kitchen, brandishing a knife around and smashing everything.

None of us knew what to do with Yong Sook. We loved him, all of us. When he was happy he was a beacon of contentment and a brilliant young man. He and Yong Soo took after their father. But he was destroying our happiness and Ga Yun's pride was too big to seek therapy. In Korea, it was a deep shame to have a mentally disabled person in your family, and Ga Yun was always a conservative stickler to tradition. She absolutely refused to send Yong Sook to an asylum. Yong Sook didn't want to go either.

I wonder what would've happened if I had made Ga Yun send him to an asylum.

One morning, when Mei and the twins were about 14, I found that neither of the twins had boarded the bus to go to school. Worried, I entered their home with the key that Ga Yun gave me and the home was eerily quiet. Usually, Ga Yun would be cooking with Yong Soo talking her ear off and Yong Sook playing music. I only heard a quiet sobbing. Yong Sook didn't often get angry in the morning, but this morning was different.

I followed the noises to his door. I steeled my resolve and swallowed up any fear that had balled up inside me and opened the door.

"Ga Yun...? Yong Soo?"

"...Yong Soo?"

The younger twin sat in the corner closest to the door, sobbing into his hands, his thin shoulders shaking. He looked up at me with haunted eyes and choked out a hello.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying? Where's your mother and brother?"

Too shaken to speak any more, he gestured towards a rather large heap of shattered wood, and curled back up into his corner. With an apprehensive feeling in my stomach, the silence filled my ears. As I inched closer to the pile I saw drops of red, dripping from the mouldy splinters. My worst fears were confirmed as I shifted half of a chair to reveal Ga Yun, pale and lifeless, blood still dripping from her neck.

I threw myself back against the wall in horror and drew Yong Soo close to me. I noticed her blood on our hands and our tears washed it away. I knew that I had to call for help but I also knew that she was beyond saving. Her neck was nearly severed completely in half.

After what seemed like eternity, we had cried all of our tears and I asked the sniffling boy where his twin was.

"He...he ran. He was angry at Mom for trying to clean up his room and he had the knife in his hand and I came up here and I tried to get him to stop but he didn't and he cut my hand here and then threw me to the side and then he grabbed Mom and slit her throat and then he ran out of here without anything and he left the knife, see? I have the knife in my hands. I have the knife. The knife that killed Mom. Look at it. The knife that hurt me. The knife. The knife."

It was obvious that he needed help. We needed to find Yong Sook. We needed to mourn the loss of Ga Yun. We needed to tie up this mess and tidy it. I was the only one there to do it.

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**Chapter two coming soon. Tell me what you thought about this one?**


	2. The Predicament

**Hello, let's get right to the chapter. Also, I forgot to add this before, but I obviously don't own any of these characters.**

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"Don't send me there don't send me there can't I go home I want to be with Mei and Jia Long please Uncle Yao don't make me let's just go home."

Yong Soo grabbed my sleeve, whispering breathlessly through his tears. I know it was hard for him but in his current state, covered with blood, delirious, sobbing, emotionally unstable, and bleeding profusely, I couldn't let him go home. We were in the ambulance, with the doctors treating Yong Soo's arm. He was pale and shaking and shied away from physical touch. He took refuge next to me after he was bandaged up and started to cry again.

It made tears come to my own eyes to see the most cheerful and bright boy I've ever met weep and quiver like he did.

"Yong Soo...you need to go to the hospital. Your arm doesn't look too well, you might need stitches, and you've...been through a lot. It's obvious that...that you are not in your best state as of now. We'll go home soon. I promise."

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Weeks passed.

Ga Yun's funeral was short and had only Yong Soo and I. I didn't allow Jia Long and Mei to come. If Yong Soo saw them, I know that he would never go back to the hospital. My children would steal him away, and I knew that Ga Yun's second son was definitely not fit to go home.

My worst fears were being confirmed. Yong Soo started to act more and more like Yong Sook. He became worse and seemed to cry every minute he was awake. Sometimes I would wake him up and there would still be tears streaming down his face, even if he was sleeping. He would scream if anyone tried to touch him and refused to eat. He was transferred from the hospital to an asylum. I hoped that he didn't have a mental disorder like his brother.

More weeks passed.

Before I knew it, it was six months after her death. I was so caught up with Yong Soo's paperwork that I insisted on doing myself, I barely slept. Dark circles formed under my eyes. My beautiful children helped me with the work. We were all worried most for Yong Soo.

All of our hopes and prayers seemed to be taking effect, though. Yong Soo's condition bettered. He started eating again, he stopped crying during the day, and he wouldn't say anything if someone accidentally brushed by him.

More weeks.

Yong Soo was almost ready to go home. He was acting like any other teenager was expected to, but he was more like Jia Long than himself. He was quiet, withdrawn. Now, he seemed more angry than sad. He would spend his days in the small physical exercise room in the asylum, lifting weights and furiously punching the dummies. We were relieved with him feeling better, but with his well-being came another problem. Where would he live?

I was completely ready to take him into my home. I knew that Ga Yun would've done no less for me. Besides, Ga Yun had left a will. We were all shocked to find it in her room. But she knew that she should be prepared for anything that might happen, and writing a will was one way to ensure her children's safety. In her will, she had left all of her possessions to me and all of her money for the twins's college fund. She also said that she would like the boys to be left with me as well.

Her will made me sit down and write a will for myself. Never know what's going to happen.

Then, more weeks passed.

After about ten months after her death, I finally saw Yong Sook again. He came to the police station to turn himself in. He was gaunt and skinnier than I had ever seen him and he looked as if he hadn't smiled once in those long months. When I first saw him I didn't know how to react. Do I hug him, and rejoice his return? Or do I despise him, shunning him for his crimes?

In the end, I didn't say anything.

He was found guilty of murdering his mother ten days later, and he was sent to juvie. He wasn't allowed to go see his brother.

Weeks.

Yong Soo put on a happy persona whenever I came to see him. The hours he had spent in the physical exercise room had made him taller and put lots of muscle on his previously lean frame. He looked like the absolute picture of health. I knew that he just wanted to go home, though. I saw the way he would slump when he thought nobody was looking, or the way his smile seemed just a bit forced. I knew him too well not to see it.

Nevertheless, it was high time that he came home. The kids were overjoyed when I told them the news. Nearly everyday they had asked when they could see Yong Soo again. I never let them visit, I didn't even tell them the name of the asylum he was at. They'd just steal him away from the place.

The day finally came, and it couldn't have come soon enough. Yong Soo was practically bouncing out of the car the entire ride there. He was shouting and pointing out things that he remembered on the streets. Even if I was overjoyed to have him back, it was quite annoying. I had forgotten how easily that boy gave me a headache.

Once we got home he slammed open the car door and shot up the steps, straight into the living room, where Mei and Jia Long were waiting with a feast laid out on the table and decorations strewn across the room.

"Welcome ho-oomee!" they chimed with joy when he bounded through the door. I had never seen such a look of happiness on any of their faces before.

They all embraced, tears running freely from their eyes, even Jia Long's. I knew that he missed his friend, and was woeful of the fact that Yong Sook wasn't here.

We tried to forget about that for the night.

I showed him to his new room after dinner. We all were tired but happy. I was very much looking forward to the time we would spend together, even if it was Yong Soo. I felt blessed to still have a remnant of Ga Yun beside me.

His room was at the end of the hall and he shared a wall with Mei. Mei was in the middle of Yong Soo and Jia Long, and I was on the other side of the hall. It all worked out quite nicely.

We were all anxious about the future. I did not know how he living with us would affect Yong Soo and how our expanded family would change. We didn't know how to treat Yong Sook and how to best honor Ga Yun's memory. What we did know is that we would answer these questions as a family. We only have each other.

I believe that my daughter will be telling our story from now on. Thank you for listening.

**end of part one**


	3. Thick Tension

**I obviously don't own any of these characters.**

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The first night, we collapsed onto our respective beds, exhausted, tired, and delirious. Yong Soo had finally come home. It just felt so, so...right. It felt right to have him just half a minute's walk away, in our home. It felt so right to be able to hear his voice at any time. I'm sure Jia Long and Dad felt the same.

The second night, we collapsed onto our beds the same way we had the night before. To celebrate further, Dad had taken us all to the nearest Boardwalk, where we spent the day eating funnel cakes and ice cream and clam chowder. We rode on all the rides we could find and my face hurt from smiling. I don't remember ever seeing Jia Long that happy.

But of course, I had seen Yong Soo that happy before. He was like that everyday before he left. It was comforting to know that his personality hadn't changed one bit. Though, his body sure had. Before, he was quite lanky and awkward looking. The two month age gap between us really showed, since I was always an inch or two taller and a couple pounds heavier.

After, though, he had filled out _a lot_. He said it was because he spent all of his time in the exercise room. It was queer, seeing the little boy I grew up with shoot up so quickly into what looked like a fully fledged **man**. I guess that's why they call it a growth spurt, huh?

The third night was when I noticed. We had just stayed home that day, enjoying each other's presence. I was reading most of the time. As I lay in bed, succumbing to dreamland, I heard quiet sobbing. I slowly lifted my head from the pillow. It came from Yong Soo's room.

I sat up, listening to the weeping. Yes, it was definitely his voice. I heard no sound from Jia Long's side of the wall. I guessed he hadn't heard it.

Pondering what to do about it, my brow furrowed with concern. _I thought he was happy with us._

Slowly, I eased the covers off myself, trying not to make enough noise to alert anyone that I was awake. The walls must have been thin if I could hear Yong Soo's sobbing so easily.

I stood by his door. _To go in or not to go in, that is the question._

I smiled at my little joke and steeled my resolve. I opened the door tentatively, and whispered to the dark emptiness in his room.

"Yong Soo?"

He was lying on his bed, with his back to the door. He looked up at me, with tears streaming down his face.

"H-hello."  
"Yong Soo...what's wrong?"

He turned back over, pulling the sheets over his shoulders and retreating back into a ball.

"It's...nothing."

I opened my mouth to respond but decided against it. I walked over to his small bed and sat on the edge of it. The summer moonlight shone through the slats in the window, illuminating the tight sinews in his shoulders with a silvery, ethereal light as they shook with the force of his weeping.

I tentatively reached a hand out to touch him, to try to comfort him, but pulled back. I searched frantically for comforting words, for something, _anything_ to say.

"You can tell me. I'll keep it between us."

He showed no response, save for his crying.

"...please tell me."

Again, nothing. I reached out again, and my fingers made gentle contact with his arm. His feverish skin burned underneath my fingertips.

The instant I felt his fervent skin he shot up from bed and violently seized my hand and grabbed my shoulder with his other hand as if I had shocked him instead of touched him. His wide, crazed, tear-brimmed eyes stared into my fearful ones, and I thought that it was Yong Sook that was sitting there instead of Yong Soo. It frightened me, but it worried me much more.

Yong Soo's large fingers crushed my fingers together and dug into my shoulder. I winced and looked away. He seem to get the hint, as his expression turned from one of horror to one of realization. Sluggishly, he unfurled his trembling fingers and they fell away to his lap as his shoulders slumped and his head bowed.

"I-I'm so sorry, Mei."

The voice he spoke in wavered, and I saw a couple of tears fall onto his limp palms. He looked up at me and turned his cheek towards me.

"You c-can slap me. I'm dis-disgusted with myself..."

This time it was I who made no sound.

"Please! Hit me. I hurt you."  
"I don't want to hurt you. You're already hurt."

His head slumped back down in shame and the room was again filled with silence. He sniffed quietly and wipe at his tears.

"I don't remember a night since then when I _didn't_ cry myself to sleep. Many times before that I cried myself to sleep too. I don't want to be difficult because Umma already had a lot on her hands...so I never told her."

For the third time, I reached out my hand to console him. Slowly, I reached for his hand, and tentatively grasped it. He flinched and looked as if he was going to shy away for a moment, but recovered and let me hold his hand. He looked up at me, and I looked up at him.

Tension filled the room as we sat there, just looking at each other. Neither of us knew what to do, but it wasn't what I'd call awkward. We didn't say a thing, just stared. Imagine that, for a moment. Yong Soo and I sitting on his bed, moonlight washing over us, with his hand in mine, looking at each other. I had no idea what to do.

Something, I don't know what, compelled me to take his head into my hands and lean in and just...put my lips on his.

My thoughts were interrupted with Yong Soo shifting closer too me. He apparently was thinking the same thing as me, because he gingerly placed his hand on the back of my neck and stared, placing his face just inches away from mine. He pulled the rest of me into a firm embrace with his free arm. I blinked, trying to make sense of this. I gazed up into his determined look and tried to decide what to do if he actually kissed me. Would I kiss back?

He leaned in and I closed my eyes, heart beating furiously. My close proximity to his heart told me that his was beating as fast as mine. I sensed the gap between us closing at a very lethargic pace, and finally, when I almost felt his lips, I felt them touch my forehead like a snowflake landing on my skin, and they were gone just as quick.

Yong Soo pulled away, cheeks burning hotter than the gates of hell.

I stood up from the bed. I felt quite disappointed, but relieved at the same time. Neither of us could find any words, so I simply hurried into my room. I slipped back under the covers and pondered what had just happened. I didn't sleep so well, but at least I didn't hear him crying again that night.

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**Go read the scene where China discovers Yong Soo and then read the scene where Mei discovers Yong Soo crying. Cookies for whoever can name the parallels!**


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